STORE PICKS FOR SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 2009!

Plaistow Store #49 Team - Kathy Smith, Lisa McCormick, Debbie Perkins and Michelle Slattery.

New Store, New Look

Plaistow Outlet Maximizes Shopping Experience

There's something brewing in the seventh-month old NH Liquor and Wine Outlet in Plaistow. Some features are obvious - large floor space or the attractive wooden wine racks containing thousands of bottles of wine. Some store amenities aren't as noticeable - for example, the three checkout counters at the front of the store, angled so that customer lines don't take up floor space, or the deeper product shelves. It's all part of what Store Manager Kathy Smith calls "stepping up" customer impressions of the new Plaistow store.

"Customers always comment on how big the store is,"says Smith. "It's certainly larger than our old store but its layout is what really makes it appear spacious."

The Plaistow store is located in a busy shopping center off Route 125, less than a mile from the Massachusetts border. It replaces a smaller retail location, only about 1/8 mile south of the current store. But thanks to the new store's setting in a thriving retail center, next to a supermarket, more than 2,000 people visit weekly, an increase of more than 20% from the former location.

Plaistow is a "robus market", notes Mark Bodi, Chairman of the NH Liquor Commission (NHSLC), which made it a good location for a larger liquor and wine retail outlet. The Plaistow store is organized to better allow customers to browse product selections. As they enter, the check-out area is on the left side and there's ample space to browse the wines on the right side of the store, or the spirits, displayed on the left side. The store boasts an expanded collection of wines and spirits- more than 400 domestic and imported wines have been added at a variety of price points - as well as a new area for specialty spirits. Premium tequilas, cognacs, and single malt Scotches are on special black, curved shelving on the far left of the store, clearly displayed near the cash registers. All of the gondolas are angled so that customers can read every label on every bottle and displays are low enough to see beyond to the next display. The entire space is enhanced by spotlights and track lighting.

Bodi notes that the Plaistow location's streamlined design is a departure from the typical state liquor store or package store environment. Various protypes have been tested in new or renovated NH Liquor and Wine Outlets but Bodi calls Plaistow "a cutting-edge store design and layout" because it's a pleasant shopping environment, with improved shelving and better product identification.

"The liquor industry has lagged in designing vibrant retail environments, something which clothing and electronics retailers have mastered," Bodi says. "Our new design takes the existing retail platform and raises it several notches so it's vastly improved. With Plaistow and our other new stores, New Hampshire has become a leader in wine and spirits retail merchandising and design".

The Plaistow store is also easier for employees. There's a loading dock out back (the old store didn't have one), as well as a larger storage room and additional shelf space from deeper shelves so that staff doesn't have to restock as often. The wooden wine racks are also large enough to accomodate an entire case of wine in one display.

Smith, who's worked for NHSLC for 17 years, and her three-person, full-time staff have a good rapport with their customers, who used to drive to the Salem or Hampton stores to buy products that the new store now stocks. The Plaistow location employs 24 staff, double the number from the prior site, who were all excitedc when the new store opened.

"Customers would come and tell us how much better this store is than the old one", Smith says. "It was very energizing for the staff to hear that".

With longer operating hours than some other NH Liquor and Wine Outlets, the Plaistow store is busy. Bodi credits the success of the store to its employees. "The store design was an accumulation of a lot of hard work and effort by our design team and the employees who helped set up the store and run it", he says. "We're proud of their achievement and excited about incorporating elements (of the Plaistow location) in our future stores".

The Plaistow store is located in the Market Basket Shopping Plaza on Route 125. 382-8511.